


quiet night

by aislingdoheanta



Series: Robert Week 2018 [2]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Gen, Heartache, M/M, Protective Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 17:14:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15953885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aislingdoheanta/pseuds/aislingdoheanta
Summary: Coda to episode 15 Feb 2018. Aaron’s rejection brings up the heartbreak again. Vic tries to talk about it with her brother to try and make him feel better.Written for Day Two of Robert Week -  “ Write an emotional scene between Robert and another character.”





	quiet night

**Author's Note:**

> Come say 'Hi!" on [tumblr!](http://saras-almanac.tumblr.com/ask)

“Robert? You here?” Vic shouted as she walked into her house.

Robert, who’d come back from the pub over an hour ago and had sat down on the sofa and hadn’t moved, simply sighed. “Where else would I be?”

“I was worried about ya,” Vic said, taking off her jacket and hanging it by her door. “I tried to get back as quick as I could, but you know what they’re all like over there.”

Robert just nodded.

“I’m sorry, you know,” Vic said. “About Aaron.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Robert said.

“No, it does. He shouldn’t be playing with your head like that,” Vic said. “It’s not fair on ya.”

“You said that it was wishful thinking,” Robert said.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t there,” Vic said. “If you say it was a moment, you’d know, yeah?”

Robert leaned his head back on the back of the sofa and blinked. “I just feel so stupid.”

“Why?” Vic took a seat next to him.

“For actually thinking I had a chance with him,” Robert said. “We’re over. He’s done with me. He made that clear. I don’t know why I allowed myself to think differently.”

“You’re human, Rob,” Vic said. “And you have a heart. You still love him.”

Robert didn’t say anything to that.

“Maybe he was just testing the waters?” Vic suggested. “Trying to see what you’d do?”

“Why?” Robert asked.

“Cause maybe he wants to open that door again,” Vic said.

“I doubt it,” Robert said.

“It could happen.”

“No,” Robert said. “It can’t. I messed it all up. I have to live with that.”

Vic sighed. “Robert, it was a mistake. A mistake you made when you were drunk and hurt. He forgave you for that. Maybe all he needed was time.”

“No, no, no, Vic, that’s where you’re wrong,” Robert said. He sat back up to face Vic. “You see, it was always going to be me. I was always going to mess up and hurt him to the point where he’d leave. I’d leave him no choice. I do it with everyone. I ruin everything.”

“Robert Jacob Sugden that is not true,” Vic said.

Robert laughed humorlessly. “You know better than most that I’m a disaster. I only end up hurting people. Especially the people I love, even when I’m not trying to. It’s like my default setting.”

“Well, not anymore it’s not,” Vic said. “You’ve changed, Robert. Maybe ya haven’t fully allowed yourself to see it, but ya have.”

Robert’s eyes filled with tears. “I just… I really miss him, Vic.”

“I know ya do,” Vic said as she tried to hug Robert from where she sat on the sofa. It was an awkward angle and one of the only times he’d really allowed her to see him so vulnerable. But Robert was too exhausted to try and hide this from her.

“And I want him to be happy,” Robert said. “It just kills me that I can’t be the person to do that.”

“Break ups are hard,” Vic said. “But you’ll get through this. It’s just a wobble, yeah? We’ll sort it out and things will get better.”

“I just feel…” Robert sighed. “Pathetic.”

“You’re not,” Vic said. “I promise ya, you’re not pathetic. You’re hurting and missing him. It’s perfectly normal to be feeling this way.”

Robert nodded.

“It’ll be better in the morning,” Vic said. “Let’s just watch some telly, yeah? I’ll make us a brew and it’ll just be a quiet night. Just the two of us.”

“Yeah. Sounds good,” Robert said. He let go of Vic so she could get up. “Thanks, Vic. You know, for…” Robert gestured around vaguely. “For all this.”

“You’re my brother, Rob,” Vic said. “And I love ya.”

Robert took a deep breath and tried to smile. “Even though you drive me mad most of the time, I love you too.”

Vic beamed at him and he watched her go and put the kettle on. As unlucky as he was in the rest of his life, he was lucky to have a sister like Victoria. He was going to make sure to not forget that in the future.

 


End file.
